Stay Put Rights in New Brunswick Special Education: What Parents Can Actually Enforce

The school says your child's placement is changing. They want to reduce EA hours, move them to a different program, or implement a partial-day arrangement — and you disagree. You've heard that in the United States, filing for due process automatically freezes your child's placement until the dispute is resolved. That protection is called "stay put."

New Brunswick has no IDEA-style automatic stay-put rule. The supported route described in the provincial material is an administrative appeal followed, where appropriate, by Human Rights Commission options; do not assume that filing a dispute automatically freezes placement.

That is not an automatic pendency right. A parent must use the available administrative pathways and document the requested supports and any change.

What NB Has Instead of Automatic Stay Put

1. The Appeal Process Provides an Administrative Review

Under the Education Act's appeals process, when you file a written appeal of a placement or programming decision, the district must convene a committee to hear the appeal and issue a decision. The appeal applies to the specific decision you are contesting.

An appeal puts the disputed decision into the administrative process, but the reports do not establish that filing automatically prevents the school from implementing a change. State in writing that you dispute the change and ask the Superintendent to confirm what will remain in place while the appeal is considered.

If a school tells you they are implementing a placement change immediately — before the 10-day appeal window has passed — cite the Education Act appeal rights in writing. State explicitly that you dispute the decision and ask the Superintendent to confirm whether any interim arrangement will apply while the appeal is considered.

2. Policy 323 Creates Hard Limits on Partial-Day Exclusions

The most common unilateral placement change in New Brunswick special education is the partial-day plan — a school arrangement where a student with complex needs attends for only part of the school day, with the remainder of the school day simply absent.

Policy 323 (Partial School Days) sets explicit conditions that limit when and how long a partial-day plan can be implemented:

• It must be exceptional and temporary, not a routine arrangement
• It requires documented evidence that all three tiers of intervention have been genuinely attempted and have not resolved the issue
• It has a maximum duration of 90 days
• It requires documented justification for the arrangement
• It must include a documented plan for returning the student to full-day programming

These requirements mean that if a school proposes a partial-day arrangement without meeting these procedural prerequisites, the plan does not meet the documented Policy 323 conditions. You can contest it from day one by requesting written confirmation of:

• Which specific Tier 1, 2, and 3 interventions were attempted and when
• The written justification and who approved it
• The documented return-to-full-day plan with dates

If the school cannot produce these documents, state in writing that the partial-day plan does not meet the documented Policy 323 conditions. Ask the district superintendent, the Child, Youth and Senior Advocate, or the Human Rights Commission which complaint or intake pathway fits the issue.

3. The Duty to Accommodate Does Not Pause During a Dispute

Under the NB Human Rights Act, the school's duty to accommodate your child's disability continues regardless of any internal dispute or appeal. A school cannot suspend accommodation obligations while a dispute is being resolved.

This is meaningful because it means that a school that removes supports or changes a placement during an appeal — without completing a formal process — is simultaneously in a potentially precarious position under human rights law. Schools that understand this are less likely to implement changes unilaterally while a parent is actively disputing them.

If a school reduces or removes documented accommodations while an appeal is pending, put that removal in writing immediately: the date, what was removed, and who authorized it. That document becomes evidence in any subsequent Human Rights complaint.

How to Actively Invoke These Protections

The key difference between IDEA stay-put and the NB framework is that in NB, you must be proactive. Here's the sequence:

When you receive notice of a proposed placement change you disagree with:

1. Do not treat the proposal as accepted. Respond promptly in writing stating that you dispute the proposed change and that you are reviewing your rights under the Education Act.

2. File the appeal immediately. For placement and programming decisions, Section 11(3), paired with Section 12 of the Education Act, supports a formal appeal within 10 days after notice. File the appeal the day you receive notice — this starts the formal process but does not itself create automatic stay-put.

3. Request interim arrangements while the appeal is considered. Send a letter to both the principal and the district superintendent stating that you dispute the change and asking what will remain in place while the appeal is considered. If the school proceeds with the change, document that fact.

4. Contact Inclusion NB. Ask whether a Social Inclusion Coordinator can support you and ask about reported no-cost meeting support.

5. Contact the Child, Youth and Senior Advocate if exclusion is involved. If the proposed change involves sending your child home, reducing attendance, or placing them in an alternative setting without proper justification — contact the Advocate's office. This is precisely the type of systemic exclusion their office investigates.

What the CYSA's Findings Mean for Your Case

The Child, Youth and Senior Advocate's 2024-2025 reports have been direct: New Brunswick schools are placing students in partial-day arrangements without legal authority. The Advocate has described the provincial system's approach as exhibiting a "culture of lawlessness" when it comes to the rights of students with complex needs.

This public record matters for individual cases. When a school tells you they have no choice but to implement a partial-day arrangement, they are operating against a backdrop of provincial findings that say exactly the opposite — that these arrangements are frequently unlawful and that the provincial government has an obligation to remedy them.

Citing the Advocate's published findings in your formal communications to the district adds weight that a simple parental objection alone does not carry.

When to Contact a Human Rights Lawyer

If a school implements a unilateral placement change despite a pending appeal, removes documented accommodations during a dispute, or continues a partial-day arrangement beyond 90 days without proper authorization — you are in territory where free and low-cost legal guidance is worth pursuing before taking further action.

In New Brunswick, Legal Aid NB can sometimes assist with Human Rights matters. The Law Society of New Brunswick's lawyer referral service provides an initial 30-minute consultation. You do not need a lawyer to file a Human Rights Commission complaint — the Commission process is designed for self-represented complainants — but understanding your strongest legal arguments before filing improves the outcome.

The New Brunswick Special Ed Advocacy Playbook includes template letters for contesting placement changes, the exact Policy 323 requirements to cite when challenging a partial-day plan, and a step-by-step escalation sequence that moves from the principal to the district superintendent to the provincial bodies with the authority to enforce compliance.

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